Some common misconceptions....

The serial number on a 38 Military & Police revolver is always stamped on the butt of the grip frame...



A factory letter will tell you when a gun was shipped and if the engraving was done at the factory...



S&Ws shipped after World War II have a letter prefix in their serial number...




So you want to collect Smith & Wesson's?

Rule #1...Never say never.
Rule #2...Never say always.
Rule # 3...Enjoy the Quest!

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Pace

excellent post, beautiful guns

thanks

Dan

I purchased a Class A engraved S&W Model 41 directly from H.H. Harris of Chicago who was at that time a large S&W distributor. There was no factory record of the gun being engraved and the only notatioon on the box was a chalk marked Class A. The person to whom I sold it managed to contact the factory engraver who was retired in Florioda and had him certify that he engraved the piece.

Two examples in this thread of "open" guns that were apparently factory engraved. Seems likely that record keeping mistakes were easily made when guns were sent to the engraving shop.

As to the pre/post war serial situation, we know how crazy things were during the war and the transition to commercial production immediately following. I think that a number of guns or numbered frames set in inventory from the 1930s and were not assembled or shipped until after the war. Not really a mystery.

With so many different models sharing the same frames incorrect model number stampings are also easy to understand.

That unusual serial location on the old M&P is a puzzler. Maybe the serial was inadvertently left off and when the mistake was caught for some reason it was easier or faster to stamp it in front? Just guessing, here.

One could start a collection of S&W oddities.

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No life story has happy end.

Very informative and cool post!

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Dom

Pace:
Excellant Post. Educational and Articulate.

I hope we can look forward to more insights & examples from your M&P collection.

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Mitch
SWCA 2438

Mike,

You sure do own some interesting and good-looking guns. Thanks for sharing,

Jerry

Excellent post.

Mike, that 2" nickel gun is a beaut!
A couple years ago I posted about a pre-Model 19, serial # K260,006, the sixth one manufactured. I had the box at one time and saw the gun, but never owned it. It was owned by the former Adjutant General of the NC National Guard and he acquired it at the Camp Perry Matches in 1956-1957. It is "open on the books" according to Mr. Jinks. It was probably a gift to the General from the S&W rep at the matches.

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John

The short stocks on your 2 inch M&P's are my favorite grip configuration.

I wonder how many years, and in what years, this type of stocks were used on short barrel K frames?

Unique post. A breath of fresh air!

GF

Thanks for the cautionary reminders, even if they do run directly counter to some generalizations I have heard myself make in the last 24 hours.

Nice guns, too!

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David Wilson

Probably as many years as they made "short barrel K frames" !

I've got a woodpile in the vault. I've got 1900-1910 (no medallion) grips, both round and square. Then I've got gold medallion 1910-1920, round or square. 1920s square (I don't have any round from that era). And of course, the beautiful 1930s grips. That's 40 years of service stocks.

You should come to the gunshows and look. You'd learn a lot!

Where's Doublesharp when I need him? He could pile on for fun.

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Dick Burg

I know a secret........

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Wow...you do read your own board!

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Pace

Hmmmm, reminds me of collecting M1 Carbines!

Great Post! Just goes to show what you may or may not find when you do research.

I have a 17-1 that is open on the records, talk to the previous owner and he told me that he got it from a gunsmith and of coures he has know idea where it came from. It's kind of cool have one one that not on the books....

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George Jamison

Thanks pace40. This is one of the more different posts I've seen in awhile. Very interesting.

Alas, not as much as I once did.
Your post clued me in to go look for the thread on Gun #1. You had made it about the time we were setting up the SWCA.

I enjoyed the board a lot more before I owned it.....

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett